Day: October 1, 2006

As most of you know, I’m a big fan of Cherie Priest, both as a human (she’s everything you could want in a carbon-based lifeform — and more!) and as a writer. Cherie’s next novel Wings to the Kingdom will be out in just a couple of weeks, and you’re going to love it. But if you’re like me, you have impulse control issues, and the thought of waiting a couple of weeks for new writing is just so very not on your agenda.

You’re in luck — the industrious Ms. Priest has also been working on a collection of novellas, called Dreadful Skin, which will be published by Subterranean Press. Dreadful Skin will be available in February — BUT Subterranean is doing something really cool as well: Serializing the first novella, “The Wreck of the Mary Byrd” on the Subterranean Press website through the month of October. The first chapter went up today. More chapters are coming, cliffhanger style, as the month goes along.

If you’re already a Cherie Priest fan, this is a way to stop twitching and spasming until Wings hits on the 17th, and the rest of Dreadful Skin shows up in February. If you’re not yet a Cherie Priest fan, here’s a chance to get the taste that will make you one. I think you’ll like her stuff as much as I do.

Today also marks the debut of Clarkesworld Magazine, the new science fiction/fantasy magazine edited by Nick Mamatas and published by Neil Clarke, of Clarkesworld Books, the online SF/F/H bookstore. The magazine as I understand it spotlights two stories per issue, one from a well-known author and one from the submissions pile (so if you’re looking for a new market, here you go, although I really suggest you pay close attention to the submission guidelines). The debut issue features a story from Sarah Monette, who I adore and who was a member of my Campbell nomination class, and the story, “A Light in Troy,” is lovely. So already Clarkesworld is on my good side.

The online version is free to read; for collectors Clarkesworld will also be publishing the magazine in a small-number chapbook printing. You’ll want to snag those before they’re all gone.

All this good, free reading! Man, I like October already, and it’s hardly past noon.

Having performed two significant acts of pimpage, I hereby declare this comment thread an open pimp thread: If you or someone you like/love/owe money to have something to pimp, then pimp, baby, pimp. This thread is all about the sharing.

My sympathies go to another of the John Scalzis out there, the one who is a meteorologist down in Florida, whose father passed away the other day. Jerry Scalzi was apparently a crackerjack magician who performed magic shows with his son as his sidekick (the link includes a picture of them doing their magic act together). That’s a pretty neat relationship to have with your dad, I have to say.